


Hey Boy, Hey Girl

by Knightqueen



Series: Subroutine Universe [5]
Category: Tron - All Media Types, Tron 2.0, Tron: Legacy (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Romance, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-31
Updated: 2011-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knightqueen/pseuds/Knightqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Tron Legacy/2.0 Subroutine 'verse. Chance is a strange creature. Jet believes its the thing that brought them together, Eva knows otherwise. Jet Bradley/Eva Popoff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 2008

__  
**April 2008**   


There was no great drama surrounding their meeting, no scenario that involved arguing who's taxi ride belonged to who or strange occurrences had them meeting in the same place, making one or the other appear as stalkers, which simply would've resulted in the arrest of one of them (namely Jet).

He was looking for a box of frozen pizza and she was looking for lasagna. Their paths crossed when she dropped her lipstick and it rolled in his direction, stopping against the heel of his sneaker. He didn't pay any attention at first, too engrossed in reading the "nutrient" facts on the side of the frosted box, then her head bumped his thigh as she kneeled over to retrieve her lipstick.

Their eyes met for a moment, Jet suspected nothing would've come of it if his Flynn's Arcade T-shirt hadn't been showing from underneath his blue dress shirt. A manicured finger pointed at him, almost poking him in the chest, she smiled slyly as she said, "Are you with that Flynn Lives organization?"

The question, a question he could usually brush off without a second thought, caught him off guard that day. The tell in his raised eyebrows and the hand that reached behind his neck to scratch, however, gave him away. "You are aren't you?" Her expression became brighter and she extended her hand in greeting, he laughed nervously at her enthusiasm as he shook her hand.

"Not exactly, I just like their t-shirts," He replied. She shrugged her shoulders as she appraised the neon-light affect on the t-shirt with a critical eye. "I suppose they are very cosmopolitan," She chuckled dryly. "Eva Popoff, I'm a senior at CSU."

"Jethro Bradley, I'm a developer at Elfwood Studios," He replied.

"You create video games?" She said, quirking an eyebrow.

"You bet," Jet couldn't help the broad grin that graced his lips. She tucked a curl of red hair behind her ear, eyes looking him up and down. "You wouldn't happen to be related Alan Bradley and Lora Baines, would you?" Another question that usually made him uncomfortable, the celebrity of his parents. After ENCOM had become completely dedicated to developing games and software, the digitizing research had been discontinued altogether, Lora left the company in 1982 after accepting a position at HJF.

He spent the better part of his childhood living in two houses until 1990, when his mother resigned from her position as technical engineer and moved to Pasadena, California. In 1994 she got a position in JPL and refurbished the digitizing technology invented by Walter Gibbs and was currently putting it to good use there. His father, on the other hand, continued to dance around with ENCOM as their executive consultant on all things related to Kevin Flynn; Jet didn't think of much of the position, therefore he couldn't understand why his father remained there at all. "Uh, yeah, I'm their son," He answered.

"Impressive. I figure a guy like you would wanna follow in his father's footsteps," She stated.

"Not exactly, I'm not interested in type of programming," Jet sighed. "I mean, I was for a while, I interned a little back in 2004 for FCon-"

"What a coincidence, I'm interning at FCon!" Eva interjected. "I'm actually kind of hoping to work there one day."

"Yeah, well I hope you get the position," He said. Jet remembered her expression became skeptical and amused all at once, she appraised him once again as she tapped her finger on her chin. It was first time he noticed her ruby red lipstick and her general appearance; she looked like a 40s starlet stuck in the wrong era. There was a glint in her eye that he couldn't quite decipherer and swallowed in the moment, they nearly forgot the reason they were in the frozen foods section.

* * *

__  
**December 2008**   


In an unexpected twist, Eva asked for his number and Jet gave it to her without hesitation, giddy at the prospect of hearing from her soon. He would later spend the night wondering how many people she'd brag to about meeting the son of Lora and Alan Bradley, then chided himself for thinking he was important enough to gossip about.

When the morning came, the events of the supermarket were forgotten, fogged with sleep and the priorities of work, Jet pulled himself together and started working on his game. In the quiet of the arcade, he wondered sometimes if she would ever call, then almost immediately preoccupy himself with work or one of the arcade games he still had out and in use.

Eva was fast becoming a fond supermarket memory when they crossed paths again two weeks before his birthday. Snow had decided to visit the city for a time, Jet was struggling to free his hand from a glove so fetch chain from his pockets when she bumped his shoulder, distracted by the task of looking for her cell phone.

He looked up from his glove ready to snap, he recognized her red hair before it bounced away from her face, revealing her irritated expression. The world dropped away, he was smiling before he realized it and so she was. "Hello, Jet," She had contracted his name, reminding him of how much he hated it when people (who weren't his mother) used his full name.

He grinned, breath dancing out the side of his mouth. "Hello, Eva," He replied.

* * *

__  
**April/December 2008**   


Eva hadn't been in a serious relationship since her freshmen year in college, it had dissolved to the point where she found herself unable to care how it ended. There wasn't any pain she finally ended the relationship, not even when she left him weeping in the café. She threw herself into her academic career, leaving little wiggle room for a social life outside of the occasional club trip.

She started her internship with FCon in the beginning of 2008, it was hard, almost unforgiving when she finally came face to face when the ECO, Ed Dillinger. He had a strong dislike the youth all while acknowledging their invaluable uses to his company's recent growth. Eva hadn't left their building not two hours ago when she entered supermarket.

Out of all the people inside the modest establish, she hadn't expected to meet the son of the man and woman who had a hand in fall of Dillinger from ENCOM. She knew a little about the Bradley's through their involvement with Kevin Flynn, moreso with his disappearance.

She considered the pros and cons of what could happen if she made her presence known to him, it wouldn't help her any in the area of FCon, but it might help her elsewhere. So she dropped her lipstick and positioned herself close enough so when she made physical contact, he would have to pay attention to her. Orchestrated as some her questions started out, her sudden rapport with Jethro wasn't something she was expecting.

They connected on the mere fact that he couldn't stop talking once the subject diverted from his personal life and steered toward what went into programming a simple set of actions for a character and she couldn't stop listening.

They must've stood in the frozen foods isle for twenty minutes before realizing why they were to begin with, she never found her lasagna, but the price no pasta was well worth it. Prolonged farewells were exchanged, she started to walk away when she stopped, the impulse to act brashly grabbed her and didn't let go until she turned on her heel to face him. Jet quirked an eyebrow, glasses sliding down his nose. "What is it?"

She played the shy card, laughing nervously as she said "Can I have your number?" Jet looked at her for a moment, his expression unreadable, before readjusting his glasses. "Uh, sure. Do you have paper?" Eva had her paper and pen out of her bag, ready for use. She studied his shaky handwriting, the way the e looked like c's with curls and t's that looked like lowercase j's. His numbers were smashed together, almost resembling letters from the alphabet. "Flynn's Arcade: 555-743-TRON" she reframed from laughing, wondering if was a real number or a dud. "Now yours," Jet smiled.

Taking his hand, she wrote her number on the back of his hand, counting the lines of his palms with her palms. "Don't loose it," She stepped away, making the promise to call him sometime, pretending not hear him when call after her when he smudged her number. That night, she replayed their conversation back in her head; she'd heard that the Bradley boy resembled his father, but the striking blonde hair and blue eyes likened him more to his mother than anything she thought. She woke that morning, thinking maybe she could call him then thought better of it.

Eva found herself lost in her studies until spring break. She had the entire two weeks to call him, yet she reframed from doing so, even when she didn't want to. Weeks turned into months, until the end of the year had finally arrived and Eva, five months away from graduating, forgot all about calling him. That is, until she bumped into him downtown. She hadn't planned that at all.


	2. 2009

_**March 2009** _

Everyone except Jet notices something about him has changed, but they can't quite put their finger on it. His father's impressed by the fact that he's made an effort to keep the former arcade in a condition fit for living. Soda cans aren't left lying idle where they were sat (or fell), paperwork isn't scattered everywhere and books aren't falling from the shelves.

Lora's gladdened that his once half-full refrigerator is now stuffed to its fullest capacity with a variety of food he always failed to buy whenever he was in the market and Sam is starting to miss the dust that had accumulated over the years and months of housekeeping neglect. None of them, however, have yet to encounter the motivation behind the sudden impulse of clean living.

More by accident than any sort of planning, Eva visits when the influx of visitors at the arcade is low to non-existent, almost to the point that Jet feels as though he's sneaking around behind his parents back. It's amusing for a while before becoming common place, a simple occurrence in his life that he looks forward to.

If she wasn't swamped with work, cramming for classes or busy elsewhere, she'd leave a text saying she was coming over, then he would spend the rest of the ten or twenty minutes tidying up whatever mess he didn't attend to until her arrival.

Eva was terribly straightforward when it came to what she wanted; if she wanted to make small talk then you'd know by the way she crossed her legs and fingers intertwined; If she wanted to know what he was working on, she would let him talk, never interrupting until he realized it was only his voice in the room.

If she didn't want to do any talking whatsoever, then Jet would have a hard time keeping his shirt on. She'd never let it go as far as intercourse, but the physical aspects of fooling around was something she enjoyed; he couldn't complain, especially when she teased him with the pluck of her bra straps.

While Jet attributed his "annoying cheer" (as Sam put it) to his current relationship to being with Eva, he never assumed his behavior on the regular had changed in any way. Why his family and friend(s) seemed to think so boggled him.

* * *

 _**March 2009** _

"What's so special about this new boyfriend of yours that you actually bail on your friends at any given time?" Esmond Baza, like Seth Crown, was never one for small talk, especially if it concerned matters he wasn't privy to.

Eva ran her tongue across her teeth in exasperation as she regarded the two men sitting on either side of the kitchen counter. She'd known Seth since freshmen year and Desmond since her senior, however, both were so similar in their mannerisms (dry, sarcastic humor and no patience for round about conversation) that it was hard to tell when either of them were being serious.

"His apartment is nice and quiet," She responded tartly. "On top of that, you don't know where he lives, let alone who he is. I have him all to myself."

"Afraid he'll find our discussions more interesting than yours?" Seth chuckled as he shuffled a deck of cards. Eva snorted, she cheeked her reflection upon the surface of the toaster. "Hardly, I just don't feel like sharing this one with my friends."

"I hear your dating the son of Alan Bradley," Esmond notes offhandedly. "Hoping to get a meeting with ENCOM's board?"

"Not at all," Eva replied. "How do you think that would go over with FCon's CEO?"

"Well, what then? You never date anyone unless it benefits your in some way, I know that much from experience," Seth remarked. Eva turned away from her reflection to regard the two men with mirth. "What I hope to benefit from dating Alan Bradley's son is no-nevermind to you," She said, rising from her spot at the table. "Now if you excuse me, I'm late for a meeting."

"Oh, I'm sure," Esmond drawled as Seth sniggered.


	3. 2009 II

_**April 2009** _

"Your mother says your seeing someone now?"

Jet shrugs at the question as he fiddles with the wires behind his father's computer. "I might be seeing someone, yeah," Jet mumbled, wincing when his head bumped the leg of the desk. Alan's face appears from above, mild concern etched in his wizened features.

"Are you alright?"

"I just bumped my head," Jet states the obvious instead of answering his father's question. He ignores the look he gets from Alan as he focuses his attention back on the tangled mess of wires in front of him.

"So, what's her name?"

"Who's name, Pops?"

"This girl you might be seeing?"

"Her name might be Eva. Why are you interested?"

Alan, despite himself, shrugged at the question. It wasn't out of the ordinary to ask such questions of your children, especially ones who like to plays things close to their chest, like Jet - or worse, Sam. In his youth, Jet was never particularly private about who dated in middle school, or high school, girls came and went, with some lasting longer than others. Nowadays, however, it was like pulling teeth just a straight answer out of him. "I can't be interested in who's dating my son?" He asked, nudging Jet's leg.

That elicited a resigned whine from the boy, Jet shimmed out from under the table, his expression was caught somewhere between amused and annoyed. "I'm not saying you can't be interested, I'm just not-"

"Comfortable with talking about it?" Alan finished for him.

Jet nodded. He expected more prodding, maybe even a little playful begging on his father's part, instead, Alan just shrugged, making one of those faces that implied the issue was of no great importance to him. "Alright, fair enough," He sighed. "But, you'll have to bring her over sometime, I'd love to meet her."

"You don't even know her," Jet remarked as he retreated back under the table.

"And who's fault is that?"

* * *

 _**April 2009** _

When he brings up the issue of "meeting his parents" like a casual conversation Eva felt her stomach roll in protest. They'd barely known each other for a year and four months and he wanted to her to meet his parents, she felt ill just thinking about it.

There were so many expectations and suspicion surrounding that kind of meet and greet, her parents were constantly disapproving of the choice of men she chose to become involved with, she could only imagine what Jet's parents were expecting of her.

He turns away from the arcade console long enough to catch the trace of discomfort on her face as she readjusts the buttons on her blouse. "If you don't want to meet them, you don't have to. I'm sure they'll understand," He said.

Then there was the "understanding boyfriend" card that always seemed to be played. He asked, clearly expecting her to say no, yet also expecting her to say yes. Jet clearly didn't want to deal with his parents and his girlfriend in the same awkward living space, but to say no would be like backing down from a challenge she knew she could handle despite her utter dislike of the tradition.

"No, no. I would love to meet your parents," She said in a voice entirely too calm to be her own. "The sooner the better." Jet looks unconvinced of her determination but picked up his cell phone anyway.

When she finally meets Lora and Alan Bradley, their not at all how she imagined them. Granted, she most she'd seen of them were from old archive files dated during the high times of ENCOM's success. The youthful visage had long since evaporated behind the surprisingly well maintained facades of old age.

There's a definite shift Jet's personality, he seemed guarded and unguarded all at once; his mother he wraps in a hug that only makes her seem smaller than she already compared to his size, which was only slightly dwarfed by his father's. His father he greets with a handshake and a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. Whether or not this registers with Alan is another thing entirely, his attention moves to her and the tension between the two men is forgotten.

"Nice to finally meet you, Eva," He says, extending his hand out to her. Eva shakes his hand without the slightest hesitation, a practiced smile eases across her slips like second nature as she nods in agreement. "Likewise, Mr. Bradley. I've heard so much about you, you're just like I imagined."

A cough across the way from Jet let her know she laid it on much too thick, a quick glance across her shoulder found Jet scratching his neck and staring in the opposite direction of his puzzled mother. Still, Eva maintained her friendliness until she released his hand.

Dinner is made and waiting to be served when they enter the house, Eva can smell the fried vegetables and chicken from the foyer. She observes the surrounding environment with a curious eye; the color scheme throughout is a warm brown and bland beige color with a few pops of odd colors here and there.

Family pictures are strangely absent in the places where she would expected them, there are only a few pieces of artwork here and there - none of which she'd seen before. The four rooms at the end of the foyer could be numbered as the living room on the left, the kitchen on the right, the basement at the very end of the hall and the stairs situated in the middle, leading up the bedrooms. Eva remained outside of the kitchen, feeling more than a little inadequate when she watched Lora and Jet interact with each other as his mother fussed over him.

"Have you been eating?"

"Yes, Ma, I've been eating."

"What have you been eating lately?"

"Pizza and strawberry sundaes."

"What?"

"I haven't been out shopping yet."

"Yet you can find the time to buy fast food?" Lora regarded his figure with worry. "It miracle you aren't fat yet."

"Hey, hey, I work out. And technically, I make the pizza, I buy the sundaes."

"No vegetables?"

"I eat a lot fruits at work. I'll get around the veggies, I promise."

Lora looked dubious of his word but nodded regardless. "She's quite a catch, that one. Where'd you find her?"

An amused smile crossed his features as he readjusted his glasses. "The frozen foods section of the supermarket. Girlfriends come prepackaged now, didncha know?" Lora shook her head genuine exasperation and slapped her son on the shoulder; Eva grinned, she wasn't the only one who thought his jokes weren't funny.

Dinner was a relative non-event; the terror by which Jet described his father was strangely absent, his mother was an absolute sweetheart to her. The matter of work never came up and Eva amused his parents with her backstory and how she came to meet Jet, who only interrupted a few times to "correct" any factual errors made on her part. By the end of the night, Eva was puzzling over many of the things Jet told her about his parents, but chose not to comment on it; Jet was looking just a little too happy that things has gone over as well as they did.

Placing an arm around his shoulders, Eva said, "He wasn't so bad, your father."

Jet scoffed, an amused grin gracing his features. "That's because he was behaving himself. He's usually not so conservative with his opinions. Mom loves you, that's certain."

"I guess," Eva shrugged. "She was probably just being nice."

"Oh, come on, she does, I can tell. She never acted that way with my other girlfriends, all doting and chatty," He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Wanna get a pizza, I'm starving?" Eva gave her boyfriend a sidelong look; she couldn't comprehend how he could still be hungry after eating all of that food. She couldn't stand thinking of eating another thing she was so full.

"No thanks, I'll pass out if I eat anything else."


	4. 2010

_**May 2010** _

Of all the times to pick a fight, it had to be when they were locked in a confined space with walls akin to that of an rabbit-proof fence. "Your girlfriend's a real bitch, Jet," Sam, for all his subtleties, was never one to hold back what he truly thought about who or whatever and in the case of Eva, he hated her guts on the mere principal that the company she was working for had managed to merge with his father's company and do it without his being aware of it.

 _Tell me something I don't know._ Jet reframed from verbally responding to the antagonistic commentary, choosing to fool around with the coding on his identity disc; they really were like memory sticks! There were so many memories from his mind that he'd completely forgotten about, it was mind boggling. In the corner of his eye, he saw Sam rise from his spot on the floor, swallowing a frustrated sigh, he prepared himself for what was to come next. "I lost half my father's company because of her scheming."

"Well, what do you want me do about it?" Jet raised his glance to meet Sam's hardened one. "I didn't know anything about it and you sure as hell don't seem to give two shits about that place unless you want to wreck something they were planning."

"That's not true."

"Yeah, well if it wasn't, then you would've been controlling the company a long time ago," Jet retorted. "It's your own fault you lost ENCOM-" Sam shoved Jet against the wall in objection, Jet fell onto the bench behind him with an unceremonious grunt, his identity disc tumbled to the ground next to his feet. Sam stood before him, an object of pure rage; regardless, Jet maintained his calm.

"It's your own fault FCon got Flynn's company," He continued. "Eva just capitalized on it because that's what she does, she's an opportunist. When you own up to that, maybe I'll take your insults seriously." Sam looked as though he wanted to do a lot more than retort with his own comeback, but his chance was crushed when one of the ICP's guarding their cell entered their line of sight, his staff charged and ready to use. "Break time's over, programs. Head for the Lightcycle staging pit."

* * *

 **END OF LINE**

**Author's Note:**

>  **Disclaimer:** _Tron/Tron 2.0/Tron: Legacy_ and all things related are property of Steven Lisberger, Bonnie MacBird and Walt Disney Studios (and some other guys I'm probably forgetting but can't care to remember).
> 
>  **Author's Note:** After spending more time in the _TRON 2.0_ 'verse (and reading _TRON: The Ghost in the Machine_ ), I've gotta say I have a new appreciation of this world and Jet Bradley altogether. It's my favorite world next to the original _TRON_. So much to chew on and so much to play with, I wish Disney hadn't made it non-canon. I want more Bradley/Mercury adventures in the Grid, even if it's just in comic book form.
> 
> For those of you who don't know, Eva Popoff is a character from _2.0_ , not an OFC. She's one of the three, or four/five, antagonists in the game that really doesn't do anything until the end of the game. On top of having a goofy last name, she speaks with a weird accent and is supposed to be French (honestly, she sounds Russian or German). Eva's about 25 in the game (born 1978), making her Jet's senior by five years, but for purposes that suit the tale alone, she's the younger and Jet's the senior. The following storylines are side stories that go along with _"Subroutine"_ a TRON story I'm writing that features Jet Bradley and Sam Flynn as the protagonist and deuteragonist of the tale.


End file.
